Bottle-capping machine



Nbv. 4, 1924. 1,514,239

' G. A. WILLIAMS v BOTTLE CAFPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 14, 918 3Sheets-$heet 1 31 if g 16 g I Nov. 4 1924.

G. A. WILLIAMS BOTTLE CAPP-ING MACHINE Filed Sept. 14, 1918 sSheets-Shet 2 3 a a. w w tQEQQQQQQPQE Z i j a v M i i 1 fi a 0W z a g FMfl/ 1 z 1 w 4 a a a Nov. 4 1924. 1,514,239

G. A. WILLIAMS BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 14, 1918 3Sheets-Sheet 5 g ag wok Patented Nov. 4, 1924.

GEORGE A. WILLIAMS, 0F DECATUR, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR. I'Ou'lHEWILLIAlVISSEALING CORPORATION. OF DECATUR, ILLINQIS. A

BOTTLE-GAPPING rapier-zine.

eonrosarron or conlvncrrcn'rl Application filedsepteinher 14, 1918.Serial No 254,030.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, Gnonon A. VVILLIAMS, a citizen of theUnited States,residing at Decatur, in the county of Macon and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Bottle-CappingMachines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates generally to bottle capping machines and moreparticularly to certain improvements upon the bottle capping machinepatented to me July 18, 1916, No. 1,191,258. The object of thisinvention is to improve certain features of the machine disclosed in theaforesaid patent and whereby a simpler and cheaper machine is providedand at the same time one which is more convenient of, and eiiicientinoperation, and with these objects in view the invention consists in thenovel features of construction hereinafter fully described and pointedout in the claims.

In the drawings forminga part of this specification, Fig. 1 is a faceview of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 isa side view of thesame; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional elevation takenthrough the upper portion of the device; Fig. 1 is a horizontalsectional view on the line 4-4: of Fig. 3 Fig. 5 is a sectional view onthe line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 6 is a detail perspective View of thelever turning finger with the pinion for operating the same; Fig. 7 is afront View of plunger and chuck; Fig. 8 is a side view of same; Fig; 9is a horizontal section on the line 99 of Fig. 7 Fig. 10 is a detailperspective view of one of the spring plates of the chuck; Fig. 11 is aperspective view of one size of chuck; F ig. 12 is a similar View of alarger size; and Fig. 18 a perspective view of a modification for use inconnection with still larger sized caps.

In the practical embodiment of my invention I employ an upright standard10, the lower portion of which is made hollow or of skeleton formationand is provided with a flat base 11 capable of being bolted or otherwisefastened to the floor. The standard. at its upper end is formed with anarm or boss 12, and also with an intermediateb'oss 13, and a lower boss14:, all of said hossesbjeing in vertical alignment. ,The lower bossletis bored to receive a sleeve nut15' or thrust member through whichworks the screw shaft 16 carrying a bottlesupport 17 at its upper end.This supportis provi'ded'with lateral guide extensions 17 whichem bracethe standard and prevent-the support turning. A hand wheel 18isrigidlyconnected pivoted at 20, the rear member thereof. loeing weighted asshown at 2 1 in orderjto maintain the bifurcated forward fportio'nconstantly in contact with the lowerend of the threaded sleeve or nut,ai dlwheri the lever 19 is rocked, the sleeve With the threadedshaft ismoved upwardly andconsequently the bottle upon the 'support. will beraised vertically. The lever is rocked hy means of the arm 22 actuatedby the treadle 23 mounted upon the rock shaft 24. shaft 24 projectslaterally from both 'sides of the standard 10, whereasthe actuating arm22 isarranged centrally of the standard as is also the lever 19. Byhaving the shaft I 24 of considerable length, and havingithe ends extendlaterally upon opposite sides, it

is possible to mount the treadle 23 upon either end, or both ends ifpreferred, andl in N Fig. 1 1 have shown the machine as equipped withtwo treadles so that the operator {can use both feet-.[ Eachtrea dle isprovided with a rest or'stop 25 at the free end thereof and into whichthe heel fits." The' treadlj23 is curved as shown, so that, in itsnormal position the free end thereof eXtendsforwa-rd and upwardly andby'kicking straightout while the foot is firmlypressed upon vjsaidtreadle, the operation isrendered quickfand 1' v I c. @7100 Byhaving theshaft 24 the .properlength the treadle 23 will be so positioned as "tobe in convenient reach of the operator when sitting directly in frontof"the machine,

which is the correct operative position; If only one trea'dle is used itcztnjhej'arrang'ed either 'uponthe right side or leftsidefasthe operatormay prefer.'

The bottle rests, upon the support 17 and is pos1tionedby'means of aholder or gauge 26 curved or angled to receive various shapes ofbottlesfand having rearwardly extending and forth so as to properlycenter any size or shape of bottle, and several sizes of -may beprovided.

The boss 13 is bored vertically and faced off to receive the upperportion of the plunger 29, thisupper portion being curved to correspondto the bored portion of the boss and the front face thereof is flattenedas shown at 39 and a plate 31 is bolted to the'boss 13 for the purposeof holding the plunger properly positioned in the boss but at the sametime permitting the free and easy vertical movement within the same.

A shaft 32 is rigidly fixed in the upper end of the plunger and extendsvertically upward through a nut 33 screwed in the threaded bore of theupper boss 12,'and surrounding the shaft 32 is a coil spring 34, theupper end thereof bearing against the nut 33 While the lower end thereofbears against a collar 35 rigidly attached to the shaft as indicated inthe drawings. caps to be applied tothe bottles are made of sheet metalin accordance with my Pat- :ent No. 1,108,959 granted September 1, 1914.

guides These capsembodying a slotted sheet metal skirt, an encirclingring and a wire lever for contracting the ring and skirt upon the mouthof a bottle.

1L casting or forging 36 is sometimes bolted to the rear face of thelower portion of the plunger, the lower end of this casting being curvedas indicated at 37 to serve as a guide for the bottle. This casting 36is adapted for use only with the largest. size bottle caps and in orderto provide for the efficient operation of this machinev with smaller.sized bottle caps I provide a chuck 39. Various types of chucks areshown in Figs. ,7-13 inclusive and the smaller sizes thereof can be usedin connection with the casting 36 but in some instances the dependv ingguide portion 37 ofthe casting 36 will be omitted. Eachchuck 39comprises an upper portion which is connected 'to the lower end of theplunger 29 and a' lower portion which serves as a guide for the bottleyand between the upper andlower portions there are openings at eachside across which are arranged spring gripping plates 60 which serve tohold the bottle cap in its proper pos ition in the chuck. Each springplate 60 has an outwardly projecting lip 61 at'the forward end and alsoan outwardly extending flange 62 along the lower forward portion, saidplate 60 being cut away at 63 intermediate its ends to render theforward portion :more resilient. These plates are se- The the sides ofthe chuck. The lip 61 projects inwardly and downwardly as shown in orderto prevent any dislocation of the cap after it' has once been properlypositioned in the chuck. In the construction ofchuck shown in Fig. 13the depending guide portion 39 is omitted and it will be understood thatthis form of chuck is employed for use in connection with the largestsized bottle caps the caps being held between the spring gripping plates60, and bottle guided by 37.

The casting 36 has a shaft 42 journaled therein and a stud 4E3 fined;therein, the shaft 42 having a pinion 4s: upon its outer end with whichmesh the teeth 4-5 of. the segmental gear 46 pivoted upon the shaft 43.This segmental gear also has teeth i? which mesh with the rack 48secured in proper position upon the standard 10. The inner end of theshaft 42 carries the capping finger 49 which is adapted to engage thelever of the bottle cap and throw the same down for the purpose offastening the cap upon the mouth of the bottle and this operation takesplace.

- throwing down the lever of the bottle cap and uickl 1 and easil rfastenin the same I upon the mouth of the bottle. The bottle caps arethrown into the hopper .50, fastened at the upper side of the standard10 and descend into the chute 51 which extends adjacent the chuck. Fromhere they are picked one at atimeand inserted by hand into the chuckwith the lever ofthe cap turned up. It will be noted that the lower endof the plunger 29 has a forwardly projecting inclined lip 52 and theupper portions of the chucks 39 which are attached to the lower end ofthe plunger are also provided with forwardly projecting inclined lips 52which coincide with and constitute a continuation of the lip 52 andthese forwardly projecting inclined lips are notched centrally as shownat 52 the purpose of which is to acc0mmo date the upturned lever of thecap. The capping finger 49 normally rests against the forwardlyprojecting lip as most clearly shown in Fig. 2 and when the cap ispro-perly inserted into the chuck the upwardly projecting lever willrest in the central notch 52 and will be adjacent to the finger l9.After the cap hasbeen properly insert ed, the treadle is operatedcausing the bottle support with the bottle thereon-to be moved upwardlyand this bottle being properly centered by contacting with the rest. 26-themouth of the bottle will he directed into the completing theczt-rpping operation. By the employment of different sized chucks i ableto use one machine for applying all sizes of bottle caps.

By having the boss 13 open at the front, an easy method of inserting andremoving the plunger is provided, and at the same time the plate 31hearing against the flat face of the plunger maintains saidplunger andchuck in. a perfectly true position at all times. In practice I preferto employ a guard housing 56 which is attached to the casting 36 tor thepurpose of enveloping the pinion, segment and rack and thereby eliminatethe danger of the operator get-ting a linger caught in the gearingduring the operation of the machine. 7

it will thus be seen that I provide an improved construction of bottlecapping ma chine which can be operated from either side oi the machineor from both sides of the machine at the same time and one in whichcertain of the parts are interchangeable thus giving the machine as aWhole a more extended usefulness.

Having thus described my invention, what i claim is l. lira bottlecapping machine, the com 'hination with a standard, of a bottle supporthaving guiding extensions embracing a portion of said standard, a screwshaft, a threaded nut through which said shaft passes, said threaded nutbeing movable vertically in the standard, a hand wheel coir nected tothe upper end of said threaded nut,

'21 bifurcated leveradapted to straddle the central notch, andspringplates attached to the sides of the chuck between the upper and lowerportions, said plates being secured at the rear ends, their forward endsbeing resilient. i

In testimony whereof, I hereunto alfix my signature.

GEORG-* A. VVILLIAh/IF:a

